The Abia government says it recorded about N15.5 billion in internally generated revenue (IGR) between January and June 2024.

The commissioner for finance, Mike Akpara, disclosed this on Monday at a news briefing on the State Executive Council meeting outcome at the Government House, Umuahia.

Mr Akpara said Abia had recorded a significant increase in its IGR and expressed delight that the figures had continued to improve every month.

“Before now, we were running at year-to-date around 59 per cent or 58 per cent, but as of today, we are doing 62 per cent and it is quite different from what we used to get.

“The IGR got from January to June was N15,499,482,456.70 and as of July 1 to July 6, we got N17,010,976,942.34,” the commissioner said.

Mr Akpara said from January to date, Abia generated an average of N17 billion, while in 2022, the IGR was N16 billion. He also mentioned that in 2023, there was a slight increase when the present administration came in, and figures showing a significant increase were recorded in the state’s IGR.

Mr Akpara explained that the monthly average revenue is a crucial metric for understanding income patterns because there are times when it could either increase or decrease.

“The way revenue comes in, you cannot say your IGR will be N3 billion. There is something called monthly average revenue. If you look at the monthly average revenue in June 23 to June 29, it was N2.5 billion.

“If June 23 to June 29 had an average revenue of N2.5 billion, that provides a clearer picture of the consistent income flow during that period. This means there might be a time when one would do N3 billion. There might be a time one would do N2.1 billion.

“As of July 1 to July 6, we were doing N2.7 billion as an average, and this indicates that IGR is cyclical. It has a cycle of how it runs,” Mr Akpara stressed.

Mr Akpara also stated that Governor Alex Otti’s administration had set a target for itself in monthly revenue generation as an encouragement to boost the state’s IGR.

According to the finance commissioner, beyond the state’s budget, Mr Otti’s government had given itself the target to generate N4.3 billion average monthly and a target of N52.4 billion by the end of the year.

“We have ourselves set a target that is far away from what is in the budget so that it will ginger us to make sure we meet the target. But in the budget, it is not what we have but we are looking up to this to be able to meet the target stated in the budget,” Mr Akpara explained.

Also, the governor’s media aide, Ferdinand Ekeoma, said Mr Otti’s administration had set up a multipurpose task force as a mechanism to ensure that taxes were paid effectively.

“For the fact that we are doing these, it means we are going to experience a consistent increase in the revenue generation. We expect to do far better than we are doing at the moment,” Mr Ekeoma said. 

(NAN)